The Hollies - Concert Review

Collection of anecdotes, 30^th November 1997 - by Ann & Barbara

We are all interested to read the reviews by the so called "experts" but what about the comments of the average punter who may be going to their first show or who are eager to see the Hollies again because as we all know, it only takes "Just one Look", and you're hooked for life.

In the interest of trawling this so far unharvested field we spent many arduous hours in the pubs next door to the theatres and the bars during the intervals (what hardships we suffer in pursuit of truth and the Hollies) and we have come up with this collection of tit bits.

*One lady in Bath is probably still confused……chatting to hubby and another couple before the show, the other woman said her favourite song was "All I need is the air that I breathe", and after much soul searching and jump starting of the old brain cells the men came up with one other title "He Ain't Heavy". Eager to join in our lady pipes up that she loved "Needles and Pins"!

After a deathly silence for seconds, then five minutes of heated argument, they all decided that this was not a Hollies song but they were all looking forward to remembering the others once they were in the show.


*Fast forward to the interval.…..one very bemused lady who now thought various titles by Stills, Sprinqsteen; and MacGuiness Flint were all original Hollies! And they hadn't even done the Buddy Holly set by then.


*Then there was a rather contentious moment before the show in Lewisham. Three people were in a bar discussing how much they were looking forward to the nights show. One was heard to say "Brilliant", but suddenly the mood changed as we heard them say that only one of them was good looking and not only that, but that the other two had "put on weight".


They can’t talk about our lads like that and get away with it, we thought, and as we decided who would punch the woman on the nose and who would bite the men's ankles, we realised (after hearing "new record", "high voice" and "Australia") that they were now actually talking about the Bee Gees!!

Exit two Hollies fans who'd nearly ended up in police custody on assault charges instead of at a show!


*Next- source un-remembered is a beauty. Someone was heard to say that they really enjoyed it when Tony played the MANDARIN. Collapse of both of us as we pictured Tony, complete with plectrum, trying to play a small round orange. Goodness knows whether he would have used a strap or just tucked it under his chin!



*Picture a crowded bar in the De Montfort Hall, Leicester, just before the show. An irate lady was telling her friends that when she had told someone she was going to see the Hollies, this other person had "pulled a face". "Well',' said the lady "she's got no taste anyway-she likes Des O'Connor and Demis Roussos".

*A confused collection of people in Skegness were trying to understand Tony's asking for directions to Northampton. They looked in the programme and found that the next concert was High Wycombe on Thursday (wrong week, but we kept silent!). So they decided that the Hollies were obviously going to stay at a hotel in Northampton until their next gig... that would be devotion above and beyond the call of duty, wouldn't it?


*This last story epitomises the idea "to see them is to love them".

The husband of a work colleague was playing golf with a business associate and in the course of general conversation, the said business associate mentioned that he had been to a concert in Peterborough recently and although he had never seen the group before, he thought they were so good that he would definitely be going to see them again whenever he could.

And who was the group that created such enthusiasm? - The Hollies of course!

'Nuff said.

Ann and Barbara Nov, 97

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